Podcast EP 10
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[00:00:00] Hey sis, have you been told that your only option to bring a baby home is IVF or IUI? Or maybe you've been on this journey for a minute and you're ready to start looking into them. I know that after six months of trying, I went to the fertility clinic and was told that IVF was my only option. And after spending thousands and thousands of dollars on treatments, I still walked out empty handed with no baby.
So in today's episode, we are gonna dive into understanding IVF and IUI and how to determine if it's the best right next step for you. Let's dive in. Hi, I'm Sophie Byfield and when I decided I was ready to be a mama, I thought it would be so easy, get off birth control. Baby dance, like no one's watching.
And poof, I was pregnant. But like many of you, that wasn't my story. After months of negative tests, endless treatments, and more supplements than you can count, I realized that getting pregnant [00:01:00] isn't about fixing one piece of your fertility puzzle. It's about bringing your whole body. Back into balance so it feels safe enough to conceive.
And this is where we focus on what really matters. Healing your whole body so that you can see those two pink lines. Welcome to the Heel to Conceive podcast. Sit sis. The truth is that expensive treatments like IVF and IUI are not the magic bullet that everyone talks about. I remember on my journey, I did my first IUI and I was so excited.
I was like, this is it. We are good to go. I am pregnant. I just need a little bit of help. I ate some bacon and it didn't taste good. I had different symptoms, new symptoms. Oh my gosh, I'm pregnant. And then when I took that pregnancy test, I was devastated. [00:02:00] Absolutely devastated. Yeah, because I thought this was the gold standard, or maybe this IUI is a silver standard, but I honestly thought it was better than getting pregnant.
Naturally. It was gonna work on the first try. It was my golden ticket to bringing my baby home. But that truly wasn't the case for me. And for many women out there, they share the same story. Fertility treatments can be invasive, costly, and emotionally draining. I do believe that the air is a place for them in some people's lives, but not everyone needs a direct path to IVF as soon as they start to struggle to conceive.
The average cost of an IVF cycle is about $15,000. That doesn't include additional testing and medication. Here are the reasons why you could or should move into IVF, but remember, the best way to decide is to be educated and have a conversation with your doctor about other alternatives and options.
Let's dive in. [00:03:00] Number one, if you have a fertility diagnosis, like. Block tubes, low sperm to count, low A MH endometriosis, then you may need a little bit more help, either dropping the egg, collecting the egg, or fertilizing the egg. IVF would be an option, but again, talk to your doctor about everything that's going on to make the best decision for you.
Number two is time. If you are over 35, our fertility starts to decline. So if you're moving into your early forties and you still haven't conceived or even seen two pink lines after six months, it's great to go into the doctor and have a conversation. But that does not mean you need to jump to IVF. Get your A MH done, be informed and make the best decision from that point going forward.
Number three, previous treatment failures. So if you've been struggling with ovulating and you've tried the letrozole and you've tried the cod and it's. Still not working. Then moving to [00:04:00] IVF where they're collecting the eggs could be a solution for you. Number four, genetic conditions. If you do IVF, you can screen the embryo for genetic conditions.
So if you are a carrier of certain conditions and you want a peace of mind, then this is an option for you. And number five IVF just does have a higher success rate. At the end of the day, more people that try IVF and go down that road bring their babies home. However, it is still not the right option for everybody.
While IVF can be an effective treatment to infertility, there are still some major drawbacks. Here are five things to consider when you're trying to decide if IVF is best for you. Number one, the cost IVF is expensive. A round of IVF can cost upwards of $15,000, and that doesn't account for medication and other procedures that you may want to include on your journey.
Number [00:05:00] two, the emotional stress sis IVF is hard. It is hard. The anxiety, the demands, the appointments, the needles, the ultrasounds. It can be tiring and exhausting. You can be so excited and think this is your only way, and then you sit there to hear how many eggs you retrieved, how many fertilized, how many implanted.
It can beat you down. I know it did for me. Three, there's no guarantees you could spend all the money, do all the appointments, take all the needles, get your embryos. Everything looked perfect. And the transfer still doesn't work. There's no guarantees that you're gonna walk away with a baby once you go through the whole entire IVF process.
And number four, sis health risk. IVF is still a medical procedure. And the [00:06:00] medication as well as multiple pregnancies, even, even the egg retrieval, can cause health risks on your body. And number five is the impact on your relationship. Sis, we don't really talk about this, the emotional toll, the relationship toll that IVF and a fertility journey really does take some relationships do not survive this journey, especially if you're on different pages about how far you're willing to go and how much money you're willing to spend.
Making sure you take all of this into consideration before you go down the IVF route is imperative for your emotional health, your mental health, and the safety of your relationship. But here's the thing, understanding your menstrual cycle can be a game changer in your journey. When we understand the ins and outs, the nuances, the data, we can really become in [00:07:00] control of our journey and bring our baby home.
I went to the fertility clinic after six months like I was supposed to, and I started doing medicated cycles. I-V-F-I-U-I thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars later and I still walked away without a baby. In the end, I went to three different fertility clinics and you wanna know how I actually got pregnant.
I got pregnant naturally when I went on a healing journey and I started listening to my body and I started to get in control of my journey and I mastered my ovulation and I really took things to the next level for me. When I was at the fertility clinic, I handed over my fertility power. I handed over my body thinking that the doctors had my best interest at heart, but it's not always the case sys.
In the end, I felt like a number. I [00:08:00] felt defeated, heartbroken, and my savings was gone. Let me know in the comments. Have you experienced any of this on your journey? And to be honest, not all fertility clinics are bad. Not all fertility doctors are bad. There are some amazing, amazing places out there. But in more cases than not, you can be left heartbroken and defeated.
Sis, I wanna hear from you. Let me know in the comments below. Have you felt pressured to go to IVF? Or maybe you're just trying to make the decision if it's the right next step for you, no matter what on this journey. Whatever you decide, whatever step you decide to take, know that it's the best decision that you can make for your body and to bring your baby home.
This is your journey. You get to decide and remember, you've got this [00:09:00] and when you don't got it, I got you. Hit that like and subscribe button to be notified the next time I drop a fertility video, baby Death for all.
